PROTOCOL

In January 1908, Elisabeth X,1* declared to the Bolshevik Center (the enlarged edition of "Prolet[aria]") that, fulfilling most correctly the will of her deceased brother N2*, she considers herself morally obliged to transfer to the Bolshevik Center2 the property of her brother which passes to her by law, In one half, which she inherits by law, consists: eighty-three (83) shares in the NN partnership and approximately forty-seven (47) thousand rubles in cash.

At the same time E.H. declared that she was ready to undertake all formal and practical steps connected with the receipt, sale and transfer of this property to the illegal organization, as well as to reimburse the Bolshevik Center from her own funds the expenses connected with the assertion of her rights to this inheritance. In due course the B[olshevik] Center decided: 1) to accept this property; 2) to accept the repayment of the expenses connected with the establishment of the inheritance; 3) to refuse to accept any donations from E.H. on receipt of these sums; 4) to discuss together with E.H. all practical measures necessary for the successful completion of the case.

During the past year, E.H., in consultation with the B[olshevik] Center and under its direct supervision and through its lawyers, has taken a number of actions required by the state of affairs and at present, at the suggestion of the B[olshevik] Center and through its lawyer, has transferred all the cash capital in the property abroad. After examining all the official documents (a copy of the district court's verdict of approval of the inheritance rights, an official] certificate from the NN office about the state of the property, a bank certificate about the received capital, etc.), it has been established that the entire cash capital is equal to the sum of forty-seven thousand one hundred and twenty rubles (47,120 rubles), or 124 rubles. (47,120 rubles) or 124,915 (one hundred and twenty-four thousand nine hundred and fifteen francs) at the exchange rate at which the money was transferred from Russia to Paris (265.1). All this capital has been completely transferred to the B[olshevik] Center (enlarged] ed. of the "Proletariat"), whereby the B[olshevik] Center considers all its claims to that part of the above-mentioned property, which consists in the net cash capital, to be completely satisfied. As for the rest of the property consisting of the eighty-three (83) shares of the NN company, the ways of obtaining, realizing and transferring them to the B[olshevik] Center are still being discussed and implemented by the B[olshevik] Center together with E.H..

Note: There is a contradiction between the verdict of the district court on the approval of the inheritance rights and the official certificate of the NN Partnership office on the amount of the cash capital in the amount of approximately one thousand (1000) rubles. The B[olshevik] Center instructed its lawyer to clarify this misunderstanding through personal negotiations with the NN office.

We certify the authenticity of all the above, as well as the fact that the Bolshevik Center has received the cash capital calculated above with our signatures.

Paris.

February 21, 1909.

Members of the B[olshevik] Center (expanded edition of the "Proletariat"): Grigory.    N. Lenin.

Marat.                         Maximov.

В. Sergeyev.                  Y. Kamenev.

Fund 2, op. 1, d. 27094 - original.

1*Elizaveta Pavlovna Schmit

2* Nikolai Pavlovich Schmit

1This is about a part of the inheritance bequeathed to the Bolsheviks by Nikolai Pavlovich Shmit, the owner of a furniture factory in Presnya (Moscow), who died on the night of February 13 (26), 1907 in Butyrsky prison, where he was imprisoned for participation in the revolutionary events of 1905 in Moscow. The executors of his testamentary order, transferred from prison shortly before his death, were his sisters Ekaterina (married as Andrikanis) and Elizaveta (married as Ignatieva, then Taratuta), who inherited by law all the property, in view of the refusal of their share of his younger brother Alexei Pavlovich Shmita. The former transferred part of the inheritance to the Bolshevik Center in 1908-1909, the latter in 1909-1911. In order to overcome legal obstacles to the transfer of the money, Yel.P. Schmit, being the common-law wife of V.K. Taratuta, a member of the Bolshevik Center wanted by the police, agreed to a fictitious marriage with A.M. Ignatiev, a trustee of the Bolshevik Center.

In the course of negotiations with the Bolshevik Center, Ek.P.Andrikanis, supported by her husband N.A.Andrikanis, did not agree to transfer her entire share of the inheritance to the Bolshevik Center, because in addition to her obligations to the BC, she had obligations to provide for the stranded workers of the burnt-out furniture factory of N.P.Shmita. In the struggle for the inheritance, the representatives of the BC (especially Taratuta) often used morally reprehensible methods. The solution of the inheritance problems was complicated by the acute political confrontation between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks and the Bund, who considered Schmit's inheritance to belong to all factions of the RSDLP, and then within the Bolshevik faction between the supporters of V.I. Lenin and A.A. Bogdanov. The consideration of conflicts of succession took place in a court of arbitration under the arbitration of the representatives of the Social Revolutionary Party M.A.Natanson, I.A.Rubanovich and others. The court had three sessions in December 1907, April and June 1908. As a result, an agreement was reached on the transfer of the inheritance to the Bolsheviks: the share of Yel.P.Shmit in full, of the share of Yek.P.Andrikanis - one third.

After the January 1910 plenum of the Central Committee, the bulk of the inheritance went to the "holders" to be used for all-party needs. Lenin's attempt in 1911 and early 1914 to return the money to the Bolsheviks was unsuccessful.

See also: RCCHIDNI, f. 331, op. 2, d. 11, 12; Lenin's Collection XXXVIII, pp. 32-37 , 66-67 and the present edition of docs. 17, 18, 45, 46.

2The Bolshevik Center - the leading body of the Bolshevik faction of the RSDLP was elected by Bolshevik delegates at the V London Congress of the RSDLP in 1907. After the transfer of the editorial office of the newspaper "Proletarian" to Geneva (1908), the Bolshevik Center represented an expanded editorial office of "Proletarian". It was abolished together with the cessation of the publication of "Proletarian" in February 1910 on the basis of the decision of the plenum of the Central Committee of the RSDLP in January 1910.